Author name: Divij Joshi

The Sony Betamax case may be familiar to some readers of this blog. The US Supreme Court ruling first elaborated the concept of ‘substantial non-infringing use’ as applied to the sale of technologies which could enable piracy or copyright infringement. In many ways, this ruling and the rationale behind it have been applied to subsequent technologies and regulations around these technologies – from p2p filesharing, to, most recently, online content hosting platforms. The Betamax and its history should be carefully …

From Betamax to Youtube – How Copyright Laws Have Impacted Innovation Read More »

In a major development in the European Union with repercussions for the internet at large, the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission on February 13, 2019, agreed upon the final text of the new EU Copyright Directive. While the text of the new rules has not yet been released, and they are yet to be officially confirmed by the parliament and council, a press release by the European Commission stated that a political agreement was …

Update: European Union Agrees on Copyright Directive Text, ‘Upload Filters’ and ‘Link Tax’ Closer to Becoming Internet Norms Read More »

The Ministry of Information Technology has released a draft of proposed changes to the Intermediary Guidelines Rules, 2011, made under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”). Section 79 provides that certain categories of intermediaries which merely host third party content shall not be liable for such third-party content, provided that certain conditions are complied with, which is known as a ‘safe harbour’. Compliance with the Intermediary Guidelines Rules drafted under Section 79 is a pre-requisite to …

Draft Intermediary Guidelines Rules will Undermine Fair Dealing and Access to Knowledge Online Read More »